This invention relates to toys and, more particularly, to toy building blocks that a child can quickly and easily releasably join together to create structures and objects of various shapes and sizes as an expression of the child""s imagination and creative spirit.
Toy building blocks that interlock with one another so children can construct and create various types of toy structures, creatures, and other things are well known in the art. Many have enjoyed significant commercial success. However, conventional blocks tend to have rather common, symmetrical shapes that leave little to the imagination.
The present invention contemplates providing a set of abstractly shaped toy blocks that assume a number of different xe2x80x9corganicxe2x80x9d shapes and forms and which, despite such unusual configurations, are adapted to be selectively and releasably joined together either by mechanical interfitting connections or by magnetic attraction. In a preferred form of the invention, several block shapes are contemplated, and each shape is replicated several times over to provide a complete set that contains multiple numbers of the several different shapes.
Each block has one-half of a particular mechanical interfitting connection at one end and one-half of a magnetic coupling at its other end. Several different types of interconnections are provided, with certain blocks having one-half of the interconnection and others the remaining half. All blocks are provided with magnetic ends, but some of the blocks have magnetic ends of one polarity and others have magnetic ends of the opposite polarity so some blocks repel one another while others attract one another. In a preferred form of the invention, the magnetic end of each block has a substantially flat base so that each block can be free-standing, if desired, when oriented with its base resting upon a supporting surface. In the alternative, the flat bases of any two blocks may be applied in face-to-face engagement with one another so as to attach the two blocks together magnetically when their polarities are mutually opposite.
The blocks are preferably constructed from a synthetic resinous material such as polyvinyl chloride to present a firm, smooth feel that is pleasing to the touch and comfortable to handle. The polyvinyl chloride material has a slight compressibility and resilience that is beneficial when the interfitting ends of some of the blocks are snapped together so as to maintain a relatively secure interconnection. Yet, the blocks can be easily snapped apart by young hands.
One of the blocks has, as its preferred form, a shape that is abstractly suggestive of a stooped or hunched over man, having a main trunk portion that projects from the flat base, a stooped or angled over neck at the upper end of the trunk, and an arcuately contoured head or bulb at the outer end of the neck. A second abstractly shaped block is suggestive of a cup or goblet, having a lower, generally conical trunk projecting from a flat base, a neck at the upper end of the trunk, and a cup at the upper end of the neck that is configured complementally to the bulb of the man style block so that the bulb can be interfitted within the cup to form a releasable, mechanical connection between the two pieces. The fit between the bulb and the cup is such as to permit the bulb to be rotated fairly freely such that the two pieces can be disposed at any number of different oblique angles relative to one another.
A third style of block is abstractly suggestive of a tripod and presents a generally conical trunk projecting upwardly from a flat base, a neck portion at the upper end of the tapering trunk, and an inverted tripod at the upper end of the neck. The three different legs of the tripod are provided with bulbs at their distal ends that are complementally shaped with respect to the receiving cup of the cup style block. Thus, any selected one of the legs may be interfitted into the cup to establish a releasable interconnection between the two pieces, which can also be rotated freely as in a ball and socket joint. Webbing between the legs of the tripod is so configured that the tripods of two different pieces can be snapped into interfitted relationship with one another to establish a releasable interconnection of the two pieces. The tripods can also serve as a means of supporting the block on a flat supporting surface, if desired.
A fourth style of block is abstractly suggestive of a tooth and has a generally cylindrical trunk that rises from the flat base, capped by a series of axially projecting, symmetrical, laterally spaced, tapered teeth. When the teeth of one block are interfitted between the teeth of another, the two blocks are interconnected by the teeth against rotation relative to one another. All of the blocks may be supplied in various colors to enhance their aesthetic appeal.